Supporters of a measure to legalize limited possession of marijuana will get a second chance to convince a judge that the language in the state’s voter guide should be changed to better reflect their arguments.

As the voter guide went off to the printer Monday, a court hearing in Denver on whether a legislative committee unfairly struck key arguments in favor of the measure ended without resolution.

Richard Kaufman, an attorney representing the Colorado Legislative Council, which prints the voter guide, urged Denver District Senior Judge Leonard Plank to throw out the case. Kaufman said the separation of powers precludes Plank from making any changes to the voter guide.

“There is no jurisdiction in this court,” Kaufman said.

Plank set a hearing for Wednesday afternoon for both sides to debate the jurisdiction question.

Kaufman agreed, meanwhile, that the voter guide — known as the blue book — would not be printed until after that hearing. Though the state sent the blue book to the printers Monday, the proofing process means the guide likely wouldn’t have been printed before then anyway.

Kaufman, though, said the state must start printing the blue book by Wednesday evening if it is to get the 1.9 million copies of the guide in the mail by Oct. 5, as required by law.

Plank predicted a quick resolution to the case.

“I believe this will be resolved Wednesday,” he said.

Amendment 64 would legalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for adults for any purpose and would allow people to grow up to six marijuana plants in their homes.

The blue book is intended to be an impartial look at the initiatives on the ballot. For each measure, the guide contains arguments for and against.

At a meeting last week of the Legislative Council Committee, at which lawmakers gave the guide a final OK, the committee took out language arguing in favor of the initiative that said marijuana is safer than alcohol and that penalties for marijuana crimes are too severe. Later, several lawmakers said they didn’t intend for their votes to remove the language — saying they instead thought they had merely split the argument into two parts.

Other lawmakers on the committee blocked the revival of the language, causing the initiative’s proponents to cry foul. Appeals to the Legislative Council staff were also unsuccessful.

“This is really a new low,” proponent Brian Vicente said. “They are trying to hide information from voters.”

Attorney Rob Corry, who is representing the proponents, said they are seeking a delay in printing the blue book until the contested language can be restored. He said a court could potentially order a re-vote if the matter isn’t resolved before the election.

Opponents of Amendment 64, though, said the court can do no such thing and said the lawsuit seeking to change the blue book language is without merit.

“To be honest,” said attorney Jonathan Anderson, who is representing the No on 64 campaign, “this is more politics than law.”

John Ingold: 303-954-1068, jingold@denverpost.com or twitter.com/john_ingold

More in News

With his choice of restaurant executive Andrew Puzder to serve as his Labor secretary, President-elect Donald Trump has now tapped six big donors and fundraisers to serve in his administration, lining up an unprecedented concentration of wealthy backers for top posts.

Last month, Denver’s Department of Safety fired a deputy sheriff for using racial slurs and harassing inmates and a police sergeant for drinking while in uniform and abandoning a post to have sex with a woman.